A Skunk, a Mongoose, and a Crush
by HyperMonicaLA
Summary: Sunil just realized he had a crush on Pepper. Pepper has liked him for a while now, she was just too scared to admit it, and too proud to admit she is scared. How can these two come together? Find out by reading! ;)
1. That Questionable Feeling

Hey ya'll! I got a new fanfiction for ya. This is a Sepper fic (they are my OTP!) done on request from bp123531. Thanks for the great idea! And to everyone who reviewed my first fanfic, Sweets and Russinka, thank you for the support! Now just sit back, and enjoy the story! Btw, I just make up these stories as I go. ;)

It was a bright and sunny day in New York City, and in Littlest Pet Shop, Blythe Baxter was busy organizing the merchandise.  
Blythe was a cheery teen who could, miraculously, talk to animals. She had a great fashion sense, and often designed pet clothes so Mrs. Twombly, the shop's owner, could sell them in LPS, where Blythe was currently employed.  
Mrs. Twombly was doing some paperwork at the front desk of the shop. Blythe looked her way and said to Mrs. Twombly: "I am going to go check up on the pets in the daycamp area Mrs. T., call me if you need me."  
"Ok dear." Mrs. Twombly said absentmindedly. Blythe headed to the daycamp center to see her animal friends.  
"Hey guys! I just wanted to check up on you. How's everything going?" She said. The pets ran over to greet her.  
"Hi Blythe!" They all chorused. After a quick catch-up session, all they pets went back to what they were doing before Blythe came in. Vinnie Terrio, a cool green gecko, was practicing his hip-hop dance skills with Penny Ling, a sweet purple and white panda who was ribbon dancing. Russell Ferguson, an orange, uptight hedgehog, was walking around the daycamp with his clipboard checking off the things that were neat and organized. Minka Mark, a hyper, pink monkey was splattering paint on a canvas to make one of her infamous masterpieces while a lavender Charles King Spaniel named Zoe Trent was singing a beautiful song while dancing to it. Pepper, the pet shop's comedian skunk, was cracking jokes on the windowsill with Sunil, a blue, Indian mongoose as her lively audience.

Sunil would usually be practicing his magic act, but Pepper had asked him to tell her what he thought of her jokes. How could Sunil say no to Pepper? Sunil was laughing so hard, that Pepper had to stop telling jokes so he could catch his breath.  
"Soooo… Sunil. I'm guessing you think I'm funny?" Pepper said after a while. Sunil was still getting rid of the last of his laughter when he replied.  
" No…haha…. Way… Pe..hahahaha….Pe…Pe…Pepper! You are… hahahalarious!" He said truthfully. Pepper blushed a bit at the comment.  
"Sunil, you're too nice!" Pepper said while absentmindedly stretching out her rubber chicken.  
"Well, Pepper, I think I am correct to praise you're your comedic talent, as you can make anyone here laugh their hearts out. At this, Pepper accidently let go the chicken, and it flew across the room, hitting Russell in the head.  
"You really think so Sunil?" Pepper asked Sunil with a bright gleam in her rose-colored eyes.  
"Certainly." He replied with sincerity.  
"Thanks Sunny!" She exclaimed, then hugged him tight. He froze. Pepper. Is. Hugging. Me. He thought while blushing madly. Then Pepper let go, much to Sunil's dismay, and turned her back to him and walked away, leaving Sunil with pink cheeks and a thumping heart. Then he thought the strangest thing; Do I like Pepper? Well, yes, of course I like her, but do I…. love her? He felt odd by thinking such a thought. So he chose to ignore the feeling until it went away. But the problem was, it didn't go away.

I KNOW! I know, really short chapter. Don't kill me, I'm suffering from writers block. D: Thank you to everyone who has supported me so far in my writing! And let me know what you think of this fic so far in the reviews. K? Thanks! You guys rock!


	2. Realizing It's True

_Hey! I'm back! Hopefully this chapter will be longer and better than the last one. Um… I have nothing left to say except, ENJOY!_

Sunil was hiding out in the cathouse away from the other pets, thinking about Pepper and his feelings towards her. _Do I like her? I just cannot figure it out! Ugh! I must get a second opinion on this situation. But who to ask… Zoe? She is an expert on romance… no, she will just blurt it out to everyone. Russell? No, he will just come up with a complicated plan to get me and Pepper together, and I don't even know if I like her! I know! Vinnie!_

Vinnie was Sunil's best friend. He was supportive, helpful, (well, most of the time) and caring. Sure, he may be a little light in the smarts department, but being a good friend was the most important thing in Sunil's book.

So Sunil came out of the cathouse and walked over to Vinnie, who was clumsily practicing his Hip Hop dance moves to the beat on his headphones.

"Vinnie?" Sunil said. Vinnie didn't answer. He didn't know Sunil was there, because he had his back turned to him.

"Vinnie." Sunil tried again, this time a little louder. Still no reply.

"VIIIIINNIE!" Sunil half-yelled.

Finally, Sunil's patience ran out, and he lifted up Vinnie's headphones, and shouted in his ear, "VIIIINNNIIIE!" Vinnie jumped so high, he could be in the Olympics, in the hurtle jump. Then he came crashing down and landed with a thud on the floor in front of Sunil.

"Jeez, dude! You don't have to shout. I'm right here!" Vinnie exclaimed angrily while getting up off the floor.

"I am most apologetic, Vinnie, but I am in need of your assistance." Sunil said.

Vinnie's angry face softened, and he replied, "Oh yeah sure. What can I do for ya bro?"

"Follow me." Sunil said and headed behind the chair in the corner of the daycamp area. There some sort of an unspoken agreement to hide behind there when something was bothering you.

"Uhh… Sunil? What's up buddy?" Asked Vinnie with a concerned expression.

Sunil replied with a slightly shaking voice, since he was kind of embarrassed to be telling someone he might possibly have a crush on someone. "I might possibly have a crush on someone, but I am not certain. How would I know for sure Vinnie?"

"Well would you mind telling me who it is?" Vinnie said, slightly annoyed. Sunil thought for a moment.

"I guess so. It's Pepper. Earlier today, she hugged me, and I feltan overwhelming sense of happiness. Jitters overcame my body. But I don't know if I like her or not."

"Well, DUH! Of course you like her Sunil! Why else would you be all happy around her? And why else would you be so nervous around her? I mean, more than usual." Vinnie said with a small laugh.

"So… I do like her?" Sunil asked curiously.

"Like I said before, DUH." Vinnie smiled slightly at the thought of his best buddy having a crush on Pepper.

"Hmm…" was all Sunil said before turning away from Vinnie and going back into the cathouse where there, he thought about Pepper and how funny she was, how she always made him laugh, how nice she smelled when she was happy, how her tomboyish attitude attracted Sunil, and most of all, how kind she was to him. Yes, she pulled some pranks on him, and once in a while said sort of hurtful jokes to his face, but Sunil knew she was just trying to be funny. He smiled at Pepper's many great characteristics. And that was when he thought to himself; _I guess I do like her._ And now he knew for sure.


	3. Where's Vinnie?

_OH MY GOSH I am SO sorry for not updating lately! School has gotten me all tied up. And so has Choir. AND so has orchestra (I play the Viola, in case you were wondering) But im back now, and presenting a new chapter. FINALLY. so, enjoy! Don't forget, i love reveiws!_

Sunil was sitting alone in a corner of the daycamp area, and he was thinking about none other than Pepper Clark, who had been the subject of his thoughts for the past three days. _What am I to do? Am I expected to confess my feelings to her? Do I ask her out?_ Sunil had never experienced these feelings before, and he did not know what to do with them. It was getting quite aggravating. _Maybe I should tell Pepper about all of this…._Sunil considered this for about the millionth time this week, and he still didn't think it was a good idea.

Just then, Sunil heard light footsteps heading his way, and he turned around to see Penny Ling walking up to him with a worried expression on her face.

"Sunil? Are you ok? You're just sitting here all alone. Is there something wrong?" Penny asked him. You see, that was the thing about Penny Ling. She was always so caring and kind, and was so concerned about her friend's feelings.

For a moment Sunil considered telling Penny about his crush on Pepper, but then thought better of it. It made more sense just to keep his crush to himself.

"Yes Penny, I am fine. I was just… uh… thinking of what to do for my next magic act! Yes. That's it." Sunil replied, thinking of an excuse quickly.

Penny didn't look convinced. "Well, if you're sure…"

"I am." Sunil said a little too quickly.

"Ok…" and with that, Penny walked away towards the other pets, leaving Sunil alone again. _Ok, I am in desperate need of some help._ Sunil thought to himself. So he went to find Vinnie to ask for advice. _He must know SOMETHING of this sort… I mean, he DOES have a crush on Penny Ling…_

So without further ado, Sunil went to find Vinnie. He searched the most populated places of the pet shop first, and when Vinnie was still not found, he started to get a little worried. Where could he be? He wondered. Sunil started turning his slow walk into a kind of speed walk.

"Vinnie?" Sunil called out nervously. By now he had forgotten why he wanted to find him, all he knew was that he had to find him, or he would start to come to the worst conclusions. Too late. What if he has been petnapped? What if he got out of the shop and got lost? WHAT IF HE WENT OUT TO THE DUMP AGAIN AND SOME CATS STARTED STALKING HIM AND THEN HE WAS TRAPPED THERE WITH MEAN CATS WHO EVENTUALLY ATE HIM?! Sunil started hyperventilating,then stopped, realizing that panicking wouldn't find Vinnie any sooner. Sunil started running around the pet shop at stop speed, searching for his best friend while ignoring the weird looks his friends were giving him.

Pepper's P.O.V.

I watched Sunil dart around the pet shop screaming Vinnie's name. I was laughing my head off. When I finally got a grip on myself, I glanced at Sunil again. Dang, that mongoose ran FAST! You know, when he was scared. That was one of the things I liked about Sunil. He was always such a big scardey , maybe not LIKED, but enjoyed. His nerves did kind of annoy me at times, but he always made up for it by being kind, sweet, funny, cute… what? No! I don't think he's cute! I don't even like him! Well, I like him, but not… um… ugh. Fine! I like Sunil. Happy? I guess I've liked Sunil ever since we first met.

Flashback

My owner, Lilly, had me in my pet carrier and was walking down the street

OH MY GOSH I am SO sorry for not updating lately. School has got me all tied up! And so has Choir! AND so has orchestra! (I play the Viola, in case you were wondering) But, I'm back now, and ready to write! ENJOY!

Sunil was sitting alone in a corner of the daycamp area, and he was thinking about none other than Pepper Clark, who had been the subject of his thoughts for the past three days. What am I to do? Am I expected to confess my feelings to her? Do I ask her out? Sunil had never experienced these feelings before, and he did not know what to do with them. It was getting quite aggravating. Maybe I should tell Pepper about all of this….Sunil considered this for about the millionth time this week, and he still didn't think it was a good idea.

Just then, Sunil heard light footsteps heading his way, and he turned around to see Penny Ling walking up to him with a worried expression on her face.

"Sunil? Are you ok? You're just sitting here all alone. Is there something wrong?" Penny asked him. You see, that was the thing about Penny Ling. She was always so caring and kind, and was so concerned about her friend's feelings.

For a moment Sunil considered telling Penny about his crush on Pepper, but then thought better of it. It made more sense just to keep his crush to himself.

"Yes Penny, I am fine. I was just… uh… thinking of what to do for my next magic act! Yes. That's it." Sunil replied, thinking of an excuse quickly.

Penny didn't look convinced. "Well, if you're sure…"

"I am." Sunil said a little too quickly.

"Ok…" and with that, Penny walked away towards the other pets, leaving Sunil alone again. Ok, I am in desperate need of some help. Sunil thought to himself. So he went to find Vinnie to ask for advice. He must know SOMETHING of this sort… I mean, he DOES have a crush on Penny Ling…

So without further ado, Sunil went to find Vinnie. He searched the most populated places of the pet shop first, and when Vinnie was still not found, he started to get a little worried. Where could he be? He wondered. Sunil started turning his slow walk into a kind of speed walk.

"Vinnie?" Sunil called out nervously. By now he had forgotten why he wanted to find him, all he knew was that he had to find him, or he would start to come to the worst conclusions. Too late. What if he has been petnapped? What if he got out of the shop and got lost? WHAT IF HE WENT OUT TO THE DUMP AGAIN AND SOME CATS STARTED STALKING HIM AND THEN HE WAS TRAPPED THERE WITH MEAN CATS WHO EVENTUALLY ATE HIM?! Sunil started hyperventilating,then stopped, realizing that panicking wouldn't find Vinnie any sooner. Sunil started running around the pet shop at stop speed, searching for his best friend while ignoring the weird looks his friends were giving him.

Pepper's P.O.V.

I watched Sunil dart around the pet shop screaming Vinnie's name. I was laughing my head off. When I finally got a grip on myself, I glanced at Sunil again. Dang, that mongoose ran FAST! You know, when he was scared. That was one of the things I liked about Sunil. He was always such a big scardey , maybe not LIKED, but enjoyed. His nerves did kind of annoy me at times, but he always made up for it by being kind, sweet, funny, cute… what? No! I don't think he's cute! I don't even like him! Well, I like him, but not… um… ugh. Fine! I like Sunil. Happy? I guess I've liked Sunil ever since we first met.

Flashback

_I was bouncing around in my portable crate while Lilly, my owner, was walking down the street to a small shop called Littlest Pet Shop. My owners were going on a one day long camping trip, so I had to stay there. Lilly walked in the door, and lookedaround the shop, which really WAS small, but there were many toys, large bins of pet food, and even smaller rooms that's contents were hidden by either curtains or doors. Lilly began scanning the room for some sort of employee, but the shop was seemingly , as if on cue, a short lady with gray hair and youthful features walked in, looking down at a Sudoku puzzle with a frustrated expression. The lady looked up and saw Lilly. Her countenance changed to kind, and she then spoke in a cheery voice to Lilly,_

_"Why hello dearie! I didn't hear you come in. Welcome to Littlest Pet Shop. I'm Mrs. Twombly, and if you need anything let me know." Jeez. I thought to myself. This lady sure is cheery for being so… old. _

_Lilly smiled and said, "Hi! I'm Lilly. I need to drop off my pet skunk, Pepper. Is that all right?" " Of course! Follow me and I'll show you to the day camp area. The other pets will be delighted to have a new friend with them." Mrs. T. replied. "Great!" Said Lilly. _

_Suddenly I felt nervous about meeting new pets. Would they like me? I hope they like my jokes… Wait, what am I doing? Pepper Clark does NOT get nervous. No matter what._

_Mrs. T called out to the pets. "We have a new camper here today sweeties! This is… um… Lilly? What is your pet's name again?"_

_"Pepper. Pepper Clark." _

_"Right. Hehehe. This Pepper Clark everyone. Be nice to her."Mrs. T let me out of my crate, and I slowly walked out to meet the other pets before me. They all started crowding me with excited yelps of greeting. A brown and orange hedgehog called Russell came up to me and introduced himself, then started asking me questions about myself. When he finished, the other animals started introducing themselves as well. I politely talked back to them, told them a few jokes, then got to know them a little better. When all the excitement died down, my new friends went back to what they were doing before I arrived. I didn't even notice that Lilly had gone. With nothing to do, I kind of wandered around the day camp area. _

_Suddenly, I saw a pair of huge, bright, golden eyes looking at me from a red fire hydrant shaped cathouse in the corner of the room. I stared back at them, then the eyes blinked and they were gone. I decided to go investigate. I quietly crept up in the cathouse and looked inside. I saw a blue mongoose who I didn't see in the crowd of pets that came to greet me when I first came._

_"Hi." I said. The mongoose, who had had his back turned to me, yelped and jumped about two feet in the air, hitting his head on the roof of the cathouse. He came back down with a loud thump, and I couldn't help but laugh a little._

_"Are you ok?" I asked the mongoose. He groaned with pain and then looked up at me with a frightened look in his eyes. I couldn't imagine why he was so scared though. Then he spoke in a thick Indian accent while studdering a little._

_"Y-y-yes, I-I am fine." He sat up, and the light from outside shone on his face so I got a better view of him. He had thosebeautiful golden eyes I saw earlier. His little pink nose made him look really cute as well. I blinked, then asked him; "Who are you?" He looked taken aback by the sudden question._

_Still studdering, he said, "S-s-sunil. S-sunil Nevla." Sunil, what a nice name._

_"I'm Pepper! Pepper Clark. I'm sort of a comedian, but not a very funny one." I looked sadly at the ground. Sunil was quiet for a minute, then said, this time with no studdering,_

_"Tell me a joke." I looked at him in surprise. Moments ago he had been so… scared. Now he was confident. Guys are confusing. Must be a mongoose thing. So without farther hesitation, I began performing my comedy act I had just come up with the other day. By the time I was done, Sunil was LITERALLY rolling on the floor laughing. He laughed for about 5 minutes straight, then caught his breath enough so that he could talk. _

_"Not… very... haha… funny?! If you are not very funny, then why have I been laughing for 5 minutes straight?" I smiled a smile so wide, you'd think my mouth was about to break. We chatted some more after that, and was one of my best friends in LPS from then on._

I was snapped out of my flashback by the sound of Sunil panicking. I went up to him cautiously, as if he were a ticking time bomb I had to defuse.

"Whoa buddy, what's wrong? Did Vinnie do something stupid for the 5 millionth time?" I asked him. Sunil looked up at me with real fear and panic in his eyes. Then he screamed,

"NO! HE HAS GONE MISSING! VINNIE IS MISSING! SOMEONE PROBABLY STOLE HIM, OR TOOK HIM AWAY TO FIGHT A DEADLY COBRA SO THEY COULD BET ON HIM TO LOSE! OR THEY-" Sunil was cut off by me slapping a paw over his mouth.

"Whoa dude, don't have a cow! I'm sure Vinnie's around here somewhere. Let's keep looking.' After about half an hour of frantically searching for Vinnie with our friends' help, we started to get a little freaked out.

"Ok, we can't find him here, so maybe Vinnie's in Blythe's room, or outside in the garbage can again. Maybe he is stuck in the dump again!" Penny Ling said. After her last comment on Vinnie getting lost in the dump, Minka's imagination started to soar with crazy ideas of where Vinnie could be.

"Oooh, maybe Vinnie got lost in the dump, then some evil rats took him to their lair to experiment on him! OOH or Vinnie is a super secret spy, and he went out on a mission!" Then Minkagasped, and said, "Maybe Vinnie and Scout are both spies, and they've been spying on us together, so they report back to their bosses EVERY. SINGLE. MOVE. WE. MAKE. MAYBE THAT'S WHERE VINNIE IS! He's out reporting to his boss what we've been doing over the past week!" By the end ofMinka's crazy explantation to why Vinnie's gone, her eyes were practically popping out of her head.

"Minka. Chill. First, Vinnie is NOT a spy, he's too dumb enough to be one anyway, second, quit giving Sunil more reasons to freak out. He's already about to have another panic attack." Sunil was a ball, hugging his knees while rocking back and forth. I couldn't say I blamed him. We couldn't find Vinnie anywhere, and Vinnie was Sunil's best friend.

Russell suggested we go ask Blythe to help us look, and we all agreed. So went packed ourselves in the dumbwaiter, and pulled ourselves up to Blythe's room. The whole trip up, I was thinkin_g; I hope Vinnie's okay, and I hope we find him soon._


	4. The attack

A/N; Hey guys! I'm back with a new chapter! Sorry on the last chapter the paragraphs repeated. That was obviously not supposed to happen. Well I couldn't fix it, so you will just have to read over the repeated paragraphs, ok? Thanks. Also, every time I post a chapter, the italics don't work very well, so just find the places that are supposed to be italicized. ON WITH THE STORY!

Sunil's P.O.V.

We came back down from Blythe's room very disappointed. Vinnie was still nowhere to be found. I was growing so worried, I was just on the brink of exploding, then just dying. Everyone else was extremely worried about Vinnie too. Russell even made a list of possible places he could be. I don't know why he does that. It seems a little useless if you ask me.

"Where could he be?" Penny Ling asked with deep worry in her eyes. Along with something else… were those… tears? Hmm… maybe she likes Vinnie back… I must remember to tell him…when we find him.

I heard Russell suggest we look for Vinnie in the sweet shop next door. He never could resist those delicious treats. Penny Ling suggested we look in the garbage outside for Vinnie. He could be simply catching some breakfast. We split up in two groups. One to check the garbage, the other to head for the sweet shop. I was in a group with Minka, Zoe and Pepper. Our group was to search for Vinnie in the Sweet shop, thankfully. I did not want to go outside to the garbage. Minka was racing ahead of the rest of us, evidently because she loved the sweet shop. More specifically, the treats inside. Zoe and Pepper were behind Minka, chatting away. They were best friends when they weren't trying to claw each other's eyes out.

(Not in Sunil's P.O.V.)

The shop was deserted because it was Sunday, so we were free to split up to look for Vinnie. Pepper and Sunil headed generally in the same direction. Minka was still swinging from the ceiling, excited from all of the sugar. After scavenging the shop for Vinnie for about 5 minutes, Sunil called out to Pepper, who was looking in the pantry where we had once been trapped.

"Do you think we will ever find Vinnie, Pepper? Or is he gone for good...?" Pepper looked at him reassuringly and said, "Don't worry Sunil, we'll find him! I mean, how far can a lizard go in an hour, right?" Sunil was still worried, but when Pepper put her paw on his shoulder, he smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Let's keep looking." Pepper said. She returned to the pantry to look for Vinnie. Sunil sighed and reluctantly went back to look as well.

Vinnie's P.O.V.

I was trying to catch this stupid fly (who would NOT stand still) for breakfast in the dump, when I heard the garbage truck coming. I didn't really feel like going back to the dump, so I crawled out of the garbage can with an empty stomach. "Thanks for nothing fly!" I called out to the plump fly. He was flying in an odd way… is he taunting me? He IS! IT. IS. ON. It's time to show this jerk whose boss. I jumped up on the edge of the empty trash bin (the garbage truck had come and gone by now) and catapulted myself into the air towards the fly. He was too busy taunting me to see me fly at him, so he didn't move. Unfortunately, I underestimated the power of my jump, so I missed him by THAT much. Then I hung in the air for two seconds, then realized I was about to fall. "Oh no…" I landed with a thunk on the ground. On my head. "Owwww…" I groaned. I lied flat on my back for a while, just staring up at the clouds.

I heard some quiet footsteps heading my way. They gradually grew louder. I struggled to get up, but failed because of my throbbing head. After a minute, I managed to sit up, but before I had the chance to turn around to see who was coming, someone put a rag that smelled really bad on my mouth. I whipped around, but couldn't see my attacker. Then I blacked out.

A/N; UGH! I hate this chapter soooooo much! It's so boring. ANYWHO… wow I use ANYWHO a lot. I need to stop. Ok, I have another riddle for you guys to solve. There is no prize this time, it's just fun. If you REALLY want there to be a prize, the prize is bragging rights. Ok. Here's the riddle:

A man was driving his son to school. They had a car wreck, and the man died. The boy was injured so badly, he needed surgury. The person who had crashed with them took the boy to a hospital. When they got there, and the doctor came out, the doctor exclaimed, "I can't operate on this boy, he's my son!" Who is the doctor?


End file.
